Farm Safety

Farming is the most dangerous occupation in this
country. In the absence of federal regulatory action, legal "reforms"
would effectively destroy the ability of America's self-sufficient and
independent farmers to recover compensation for their injuries, to hold
wrongdoers accountable for their negligence, and to deter
corporations from
continuing to place unsafe farm machinery on the market.

A 1987 National Safety Council (NSC) study revealed
that farming is the most dangerous occupation in America. Farm deaths occur
at a rate of 49 for every 100,000 workers - - almost five times the national
average for all industries. The injury rate of 50 for every 1,000 workers
is almost four and one-half times the rate for all industries.

There were 1,400 agricultural work deaths in
1991, according to a 1992 NSC report. The injury total for 1991 was 140,000
farmers and farm hands.

Because farming traditionally has been a family
enterprise, children often help their parents. But children are not immune
from the hazards found on the farm. Nearly 300 children and adolescents
die each year from farm injuries, and another 23,500 suffer non-fatal
trauma, according to a 1985 Consumer Product Safety Commission report.

The brutal nature of farm injuries cannot be
ignored. An Iowa farmer lost both his legs when he fell into an unguarded
hopper opening at the top of a forage blower. Another farmer in Alabama
had his left leg mangled by a combine because the manufacturer decided
to no longer include a certain protective mechanism over the rotating auger.
The same fate befell a farmer in Wisconsin; it was later revealed that
previous model augers were protected. These are injuries that ravage the
health and future of farmers and their families.

Lack of federal action on the issue of farm safety
is a major reason for the high number of farming fatalities and accidents.
OSHA enforces rules on rollover bars and guards on equipment made after
1976, but these guidelines do not require the retro-fitting of unsafe older
equipment manufactured prior to these years. In addition, the Department
of Agriculture does not have a farm safety agency or even a specialist.

Moreover, the Consumer Product Safety Commission
has no jurisdiction over farm equipment, except with regard to all-terrain
vehicles (ATVs). While the Commission has stopped the sale of three-wheel
ATVs, older versions of this hazardous item are still in use on farms because
they were never recalled.

Not all farm accidents can be attributed to manufacturer
negligence or recklessness, but it nevertheless is clear that injured agricultural
workers, by holding wrongdoers accountable through our civil justice system,
have spurred manufacturers to design and sell safer machinery.

American farmers have suffered their injuries
in silence for too long. Legal revisions would aggravate such injustices.
Aren't the lives of men, women and children who put food on our tables worth
the few pennies it would cost to add protective guards?